S500 Home at last!!
 

Well guys I promised back in October I would keep you posted as to my nightmare with my recent purchase of a 2001 S500.:mad:
After almost two months to the day in the shop,and $11,912 later I brought her home. Insurance covered only $1700 of this. Very happy to get to drive it for the second time.
To recap, I bought the car after shopping for several months. Back then, I did not do my homework for reliability of this model/year beyond a Carfax report. Nor had I known of this forum. Good things do happen in the most troubling times.
This is my fourth Mercedes and the most complex. But I had confidence because it was a Mercedes and "Built like no other". Plus I bought an expensive extended warrenty(Interstate) that covered ( according to the brochure) everything with no deductable. Yah right. Hind sight is 20/20 ya know?

The dealer in Valleo stayed open so I could make the late night drive from Sacramento.
The car is beautiful. Took it for a test drive. Paid cash for the car and drove it 53 miles home.
Two days later the car's suspension collapsed:silly: while parked in the garage.
Things went down hill from there. The dealer said I could bring the car back. As we all know with this problem, you cannot drive the car.
No one in Sacto was willing to tow the car the distance, nor was I wanting to pay the fees quoted if they did. The dealer did not offer to come get the car. My persistant phone calls subsequently were not returned. Then the owner of the dealership was never available. So I had the car towed two blocks from my home to a mechanic I had used on my W126. That cost $115!!!:eek:

Here's what was found. Of course the crack in the one strut caused the pump to burn out.
Insurance covered only one strut because of the total failure. I paid for the other strut to have a balance.
And I had to pay for all the other problems as we began eliminating one error code after another.
The crappy insurance company (Interstate) denied all other claims stating these problems (failures) were pre-existing.
New pump,fuse,relay and updated sensors that if a strut failure happened again would prevent the car from collapsing.

Check engine light came on. (Emmission control problem) Transmission,A/C,rear axle , and wheel sensors are all part of this system.
Installed new air injection pump.
Had all fluids changed, all filters.
Car would start intermittently. Then would die. But only sometimes.
Mechanic drove the car 178 miles over the two month time he had it.
This is how he was able to experience these intermittent problems.
Ignition switch and transmission control module replaced.
All codes except B1016 cleared. He was using Mercedes own scanner but Mercedes doesn't even have this code on their web site.
The code was found on another web site for independant Mercedes shops
indicating a signal loss from the ETC (electronic transmission control) to the EIS (ignition switch). The EIS needs to know the ETC is in park for the starter to engage. Even after the ETC and EIS were changed the "no crank" problem was present but not as much.
After much testing with the wiring diagrams it was discovered that relay K
in the K40/7 panel was intermittently sticking and not letting the signal go to the instrument cluster.
At the cluster,the light that says what gear you are in was not lighting up when the "no crank" problem occurred. This relay switched on the light but also interferred with the start signal.
This problem was posted on Mercedes web site that is Global. No one responded with a fix. Many suggestions, but suggestions that already had been done.
Performed B service. Reset FSS counter.
Transmission service which included adding four magnets to the pan.
Performed service campaign that replaced the alternator and voltage regulator with updated version.
Fixed right Xenon headlight's intermittent lightup by first trying new bulb.
But then traced the problem to the ignitor. They found a source from Porsche in Germany that provided just the ignitor. So I did not have to buy the $1500 light assembly. Only cost $407.
The final problem was the Navigation system. Sometimes it would not display. But radio was audible. A home made navigation disc was stuck in the unit as well. :mad:
Once the rebuilt Nav system was installed the 6 disc player in the trunk also came alive. It did not work previously. Did not recognize the magazine.
I have since bought a MB disc set.
So now she drives like a dream. Hopefully for a while so I can regroup.:dizzy2:
I understand MBUSA was aware of many of these issues with the model years 2001-2005.
A VMI report for this car shows problems began at 10,000 miles.
I plan to draft a letter and ask they share the cost.
May not get any satisfaction other than venting my frustrations at this point. But I need to take next steps. Something.
Happy Holidays:kid:

Wow, what a nightmare! Glad you got it home. Not sure how much you paid for the car but I'd be tempted to sell it and find a better car.

Good thing you've got your trusty 80's model SEC. :)

Bill

wow unbelievable if you want to sell the car make sure its fixed and the other people can use it for a long time coz i dont think its good to give the car and just transfer the problem to other people "bad karmam and i dont think you want that" im sorry for your misshaps. just buy a 500e

I knew the new S class had issues but to this extent... wow !
are the 2003 face lifted models part of this saga as well ? When did MB realize these issues and created a fix for this if at all ? or should we just simply stay away from the w220 if it's not under factory warranty ?
thanks.

TJ

Don't people in the US have legal protection against this kind of thing? In the UK, if you buy a car privately, then as long as its as described in the advert its 'buyer beware'

however

If you buy from a trader/dealer, the car must be fit for purpose. In the above scenario, the trader would be virtually obliged to take the car back, and offer a full refund.



Sorry to hear about all the problems, these are expensive cars but they should never be that expensive tbh!

Wow that sucks. What kind of dealer had the car? If it was a MB dealer I would have forced them to buy it back under the lemon law. Lawyer time.

Sounds like the car had a few pre existing issues that the dealer glossed over. Similer thing happend when my friend bought the S320. Owner reset a CE light prior to our test drive, and the light came on later.


I'm thinking have any potential MB purchase scanned by the SDS system is a good idea!

Unfortunately, it was bought as a USED car, and California has no meaningful lemon law for those that he could use.

That's simply HORRIBLE what happened. But frankly I'm not surprised. Some of the Mercedes dealers in Northern California are terrible, I have experienced some of it myself.

Add to this that many people believe Mercedes quality from 2000-2005 was at the lowest level ever, it looks like this car was one of the bad ones.

This sort of thing is what kills repeat buyers. When word gets out it wonj't do any good for conquest sales either.

I'm really sorry about this. I'd bail on the car, it soujnhds like it has been cursed by every diety from Allah to Zeus. (not you Zeus/ Chris the mod)

cdplayer
 

Thanks guys. The reason I posted my experience to such an extent was to inform anyone looking to buy such a model, to beware. Yes, as a repeat buyer, I would have to say no.
The older models such as my SEC are far less complicated and cheaper to maintain. Simply from the standpoint of a DIY individual.

But I really liked the S500 for it's style. And I blew my finances to get it.
I only paid $24,900 for the car. So with the repairs the car falls right into the ball park value for it's equipment and visually excellant condition. I am cool with that.
It's just that my knowledge base for research was not to the extent it is now.
So perhaps my post will help those, who like me, were uninformed beyond Carfax. Remember,in dire need of information regarding these models, I found this forum. Cool.:wacko:
I know better now. I will keep the car since it's problems have been fixed.
I cannot afford to do otherwise. Sure there may be more but keep in mind my crappy extended warrenty company (Interstate) cannot claim the issues are pre-existing anymore.:scholar:
And I still have three years to go or 20,000 miles before it expires. :laugh2:

I cannot stress enough for those shopping around, get a Carfax, and a VMI report to help fill the service gaps. Buy only a vehicle that has service receipts to back up the dealers claim. I had a hand full. But the VMI report filled in the first five years of the cars life for which I had no receipts.
I feel, but cannot prove, my dealer may have swapped suspension pumps just so I could get the car off the lot. Be it as it may, time will tell. Happy holidays:kid:

>>VMI report filled in the first five years <<

What do you mean by a VMI report? Thanks.

cdplayer
 

VMI (Vehicle Master Inquiry) report is a detailed listing of all repairs done to a Mercedes by a Mercedes dealer or repair shop.
Using your cars VIN number,a Mercedes dealer can provide you with information on your cars service history if the service was done by a Mercedes shop. Carfax does not have this information!!
The S500 I bought from a rinky dink independant dealer did not have any service records or receipts covering the first 5 years of it's road life.:kid:

The VMI only covers repairs done by a dealer covered under warranty or done under recall.

Routine maintenance paid for by a previous owner of the car will not be on the VMI.

I'm sticking to my W126's and below. I know I'll be keeping my W111! (NO computers)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again
 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, stuff like this is just inexcuseable from MB. If they made a car, that was even one of their top-of-the-line cars, and it sucked, they should fix the problems, at no cost. I mean, c'mon. Figure it out. What did that car cost new? $60,000? And you would have fared better with a Ford Escort for $12,000? Just for their REPUTATION, if nothing else, MB should have offered to fix those problems, if they were known common problems. Now, I know they can't fix everyone's problems, but the common ones, due to stupid engineering, they should. They created it, they should fix it.

Just my warped point of view.

jeff 1991 300d

Not warped at all.

THEIR point of view (OTDYOYOMF)**** is warped.:greedy: :greedy:

















****Out The Door You're On Your Own Mother F****r :fork_off:

CD Player,

Have you checked out he Mercedes gtg thread on the Diesel Discussion forum, it's next month, leaving Sacramento for a tour of West Marin leaving from the Marin Civic Center. Big Sacramento and Bay area contingent. Over 20 cars so far. Possible caravan to Marin and a detailing party also.

There will likely be a few gas cars invited too. Either your new one or the SEC.

ust thought you might to take a look at the thread, see what you think, (if you missed it)

cdplayer what dealership in vallejo did you buy it from? i live in valejo and I have a feeling you bought it from nino's motors???

Just to be the devils advocate here,,,about 3 years after the warranty ran out on my wifes' 400E, the motor scattered. Took it to Rahals where I had bought cars and had that one serviced and short end to long story, a new factory short block was installed at no cost to me. I saw the bill and it was for 18 thousand big ones. The car had 69K on it at the time and they told me it was a good will deal from Benz. We still have the car and it is a fantastic vehicle.

Hey Will, I'v gotta ask, your first post was to Mercedesshop back in October, it was about a '94 Mercedes S500 with 186,000 miles on it for $5995 advertised at autotrader, and it was at some small used car dealer in Vallejo, but you felt the dealer was pretty sleazy and jerked you all over the place and quoted different prices, was this dealer Nino's Motors by chance, and you are wondering if they sold CD Player's car too?

If so, you are real lucky, to have got away from that place......your instincts about them were good.

By the way, you are welcome to check out the Mercedes drive and gathering mentioned here, on the diesel discussion thread. You could show up in your new S600, everyone would love to see that car, including me.

In hindsight buying such a car from a small used car lot seems like a mistake. Those guys just buy them at auction, and the only W220's that go to auction are the ones the dealers don't want.

What would a CPO 2001 S500 cost? I think with such a new car going CPO through a MB dealer is the best way to do it. I know a lot of people with W220's and they don't seem to be any more troublesome then any other MB or high end car.

Looking at Autotrader's solection of CPO's:
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searchresults.jsp?model=S500&num_records=25&make2=&start_year=2000&keywordsrep=&keywordsfyc=&engine= &certified=y&body_code=0&fuel=&search_type=certified&distance=0&make=MB&color=&min_price=&drive=&def ault_sort=priceDESC&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceDESC&address=06460&advanced=&end_year=2 005&doors=&transmission=&max_price=&pager.offset=25&first_record=26

$35k is about right, even with the repairs you are about where you should be. Still sucks.

What about small claims court. Judges are usually very simpathetic to the car owner, but you probably should have taken it back to the dealer for the repairs. Is there a reason you didn't do that?

You might want look at the front suspension links, check all the rubber close up. the rubber bushings are thin, the rubber tends to break and tear.

Hey jim no nino's isnt the same dealership that I checked out that 94. It was some little small lot I want to say it was called luma's auto. Nino's I have heard good and bad things about. The guy had a few good cars that I known but also a few really bad ones. And I cant think of any newer mercedes dealership/ places that sell those except for nino's that specializes in luxury cars like that.


I would like to check out that gathering you guys are having. It looks like jan 20th (saturday) right? If so I think I can make it. Now I'm not to familar with Marin but I'm sure it wont be a problem. This will be the first time I show off the 92 white s600 mercedes :D should be fun.

wow i'm sorry about your misfortune. as the saying goes, "the most expensive used car money can buy is a cheap MB". how many owners before you? i'd try to trace the history of the car carefully, was it stolen, salvaged or flooded? cars that come up at small indy dealer's lots are some of the worst cars no one else wants.

kudos to your persistence (and wallet) to spend $11Gs on repairs. i would've just gotten rid of it and swear to never buy another MB again if that happend to me.

i hope the car will be trouble-free from now on! keep us posted.

haha, i LOLed at your post. i hope the W220s become the alltime fastest depreciating MB ever so i can pick up a low mileage 2004 S500 sport in 5 yrs for dirt cheap! :D

I can't help but recommend a buyers inspection at a MB dealership.
It may cost more than at your corner gas station, however we know
what to look for with each model and year.

On 2000-2002 W220 S classes, all those issues are very common.
There are factory DTB's for almost all of them.
A burned out air pump or suspension pump will set all kinds of dtc
faults. Those would have been caught on a Buyers inspection.

That car most likely got wholesaled to a cheezey dealer because it
had an owner that never had it serviced at the dealer.
We look for those issues and will fix them under warranty when
we look the cars over during a service.

That car probably blew through it's warranty before addressing anything.
After being traded in or off lease the dealership gave it a once over and saw all the needed repairs.
Off to the auction or wholesaler she went.

Buyer beware with late model MB's from non-MB dealers.:behead:
There are lot's of badly rebuilt Katrina cars hitting the market now.
Watch out.

DR.D

cdplayer
 

Actually I bought it next door at Sonoma Auto Center.

Pretty much the same thing, those cars interchange all the time. That sucks. But as a person that grew up in vallejo my whole life, people go out of town to buy cars everyone hates to buy stuff in vallejo.

cdplayer
 

Ya. In my earlier post I mentioned the car could not be driven. The suspension had collapsed on all four struts. The dealer would not offer to come get the car. And the cost to tow this car just two blocks from my house to where it did get repaired was $115. (insurance covered.)
However insurance would cover towing up to 5 miles. The dealer was 53 miles away!!:fork_off:

Thats pretty much what I was thinking. The MB dealers keep the cream of the trade in crop, everything else is auctioned to non MB dealers.

cdplayer
 

Information from Carfax shows the car to have had two owners before me. The car was a lease for the first 5 years 6 mos. Then it went to auction. The second owner bought the car from the same dealer I got it from.
Acccording to Carfax he had it only three months. I brought that to the dealer owners attention, but he told me the guy was having financial problems and had to give the car up. Hind sight:behead: . Should have picked up on that signal.(I mean lie lie lie):mad:

The VMI report revealed the first owner had issues with the integrated phone, shift valve problems (transmission), the transmission control unit
(twice). A fault in the battery and the instrument cluster recall.
The second owner had issues with the gas tank sending unit, fuel pressure regulator, and three jump starts (dead battery).

cdplayer
 

Actually the VMI report shows between 9/2000 and 1/2006 the first owner did have the car in to a dealer for service a total of 32 times.
The same dealer in San Mateo.

cdplayer
 

I have nothing against Vallejo. I found the W220 on AutoTrader online.:kid:

Oh Im not saying you have anything against vallejo, but like the common thing here is that we dont buy stuff here because of 2 reasons.

1) people in vallejo dont have much money ( a lot of them dont) and therefore dont have the money to spend at dealerships.

2) People just have negative thoughts about buying in vallejo we dont feel that dealerships and other places in vallejo are on the up and up.


Vallejo has gotten pretty bad with poverty and violence which I think ties into people wanting to spend money here. Just my oppinion.

Im not sure if I would even want a 220 at all to be honest. Its not even really as nice as the 140. At least the 140 has its construction quality to make up for its expensive service visits.

EXACTLY!!!

Thats why I only buy my used Mercedes from Jewish Accountants who live in upscale neighborhoods.

Seriously though. The amount of money someone has is not an indicator of how well they will maintain a car. Some people are just cheap regardless of how much money they have. Many people who buy and lease new MB's don't really care how they are maintained and do the bare minum to keep them going while they are still under warranty. Once the warranty runs out they quickly dump the car for the new model and the new warranty coverage. Its unfortunate that many buyers like ourselves who are enthusiasts are left "holding the bag" on these cars.

To the original poster with his 220. While you spent a bundle you do have the peace of mind that you probably won't have issues with the Airmatic system for a while. There are no guarantees on anything in life and that 40K CPO car could have done exactly the same thing the second the warranty ran out. For that dollar amount I would call around to some local Attorneys. Most car dealers don't like to spend money on legal defense. When the sherriffs departent comes by to serve them with papers they will probably take the cheap route and just settle with you out of court. Additionally with the discovery process you may find documentation indicating they were aware of the issues for a slam dunk case.

The Value of the VMI proven here.
 

Probably Autobahn Motors.

32 tmes!!! WOW!!!!

Were the damage codes all different? Identical damage codes over 5 times mean L E M O N. Maybe a prima facie lemon law case in California, if the dealer can't fix the problem after that many tries.

(I had a successful Lemon Law buyback on a new 2001 Volvo C70 HPT turbo coupe in 2002 but an attorney got involved, however he was good, and got a full refund, not another junker or that car fixed, just wanted it gone)

This is a great argument for getting the VMI before you buy.

I got one all the way back in 1996 (just AFTER I got the 1991 560SEC and there was nothing serious, just a few warranty claims, door check strap, dead battery, p/s pump, stuff like that)

They could avoid a problem like this

Sometimes lessees take less care of the car, they have no proprietary interest or reason to care, just minimal, if that, then dump the car at lease's end. All things being equal, I would avoid them in favor of one that had one fussy owner instead

Thats Ironic. A friend of mine went through 2 C70HPT convertibles. Those cars while really nice were total crap.

When shopping for a car you only have the car to go on. The old owner is long gone in most cases and would be utterly useless because most people think that they are taking care of their cars even when they are severely abused.

Rather than wasting your time tire kicking and trying to connect some kind of half a**ed logic to the best kind of car to buy why not take that time and learn about the engineering of the car instead? There are more concrete things you can look at such as design changes and improvements made to cars during their production run that are even stronger predictors as to the future reliablity of the car rather than trying to "guess" about old service records and who might have owned it.

i've been seriously considering the W220 as my next car, most likely a 2004 S500 sport, but i have some doubts now. I might have to get a 2004 BMW 745Li even though i'm not a fan of the iDrive & the front fascia. Or a 2004 Audi A8L (which looks gorgeous but has it's share of reliability problems)... argh. maybe i'll just buy a Lexus LS430 and call it a day!! :rolleyes: :fork_off:

A friend of mine bought an LS430. Like most Japanese cars it test drives well but lacks the spirit and soul of the European cars. On top of that my S320 rides better and is quieter inside and does not have the mismatched multicolor instrumentation.

Glib remarks are absolutely wrong, and rubbish
 

Hello. R. Chase in Atlanta, I apologise in advance if I misapprehended your remarks, but I really don't think I did.

I like the people around here, but I am going to go out on a limb here and violently disagree with you here, I feel you called this one totally wrong here, so I am calling you to task on this one.

It is so easy and glib for you to simply say all you can do is to be aware of which cars are good and bad and avoid the bad cars. That's only *half* the story. You can parse out which cars are the good models to buy, and two identical models could look the same, and one is a gem and one might be junk Your job would be to use anything you could, to your advantage, to figure out which one of the two to choose.

So, when buying a car PRIVATELY, an intelligent view of the situation, may give lots of clues to the car's worth. Even looking at the seller's house, his clothes, his other vehicles, can give valuable clues about his car he is selling. Is he sloppy, his grass unmowed, other cars dirty, house untidy and a mess, with newspapers around everywhere, old tools and junk scattered around the garage, burnt out bedsprings on the lawn, then chances are good that he had neglected the car he is trying to sell you, too.

This kind of observation, obviously, is usually impossible when buying from a dealer or auction (NOT always, though), as the prior service records are usually gone or not available and you can't interview the Prior owner at the dealer. Always the dealer tries to protect the privacy (supposedly) of the previous owner of the car by removing any paperwork with their name on it and never letting the customer see the name and address on the title, even afgter the car is sold, that is why the dealer charges you $50 title and transfer fee, they send the paperwork to the DMV.. It can be hard for the determined and buyer determined to be informed about the car. But the best evidence of the car's care can be found by talking to the owner who had it and looking at the documents which proved the necessary service and repairs had been done timely(of course not with DIY owners, a pretty rare breed)

As a used car purchaser, many times I have gone to the extent, in pursuit of this information, to call up or visit the garages who stamped the record maintenance booklets, in the car, and talked to them about the car, I have asked police dept friends to run title/license checks on the car I liked, but saw at the dealer, and then wrote to the old owner of the car with some money inside the letter as incentive, and asked them to phone me to talk about the car they'd sold or traded to the dealer, and EVERY time, they called me and I got valuable information, service records, and once even touch up paint and extra keys from them. Most prior owners aren't really so paranoid about privacy, despite what you or the dealers would have us believe.. This helped me be a calm and satisfied buyer, with service history reconstructed many times on used cars, sometimes all the way back to mile zero and Predelivery inspection, so you need to be resourceful and a bit bold. The rewards could be rich and productive (yet you dismiss them as silly paperwork not worth chasing)

It worked, to reconstruct maintenance history to day one in some cases, and was verfy helpful in predicting future repair expenses and what service needed to be done when.....

Engineering, design changes, and design changes in production run can be predictors of reliability and durability in the future, and are nice to know, but it is only HALF the story.

Your mention of discovery issues and lawsuits suggest some familiarity with legal conflicts, and if that be so, I respectfully suggest you may want to realign your thinking about what really constitutes an invasion of privacy in this kind of situation, buyinjg a used car and merely seeking out the history of the vehicle. Carfax can only do a certain limited job....

You are giving MANIFESTLY BAD ADVICE HERE if you are saying that "tire kicking and half'a$$ed logic" is applied to car purchases by clueless buyers who are trying to figure out the prior history and maintenance paper trail of the car.

Physical condition of the car counts a lot, and the car should be inspected to be sure it is in good physical condition, not a rust bucket, refugee from a freeway pile up, and that all systems and mechanical parts work as they should, that's the purpose of a prepurchase inspection.

However, for you to so cavalierly dismiss a buyer's efforts to find out the prior owners of the car, and service history documentation, flies in the face of widely accepted and logically sound advice to car purchasers. Knowing this information can provide a gold mine of sound and excellent information to prospective buyers, and getting it could actually increase the value of the car onm subsequent resale. Getting all the information you can is not a waste of time, it's vital, even critically so with the high line luxury cars, all the experts always say "service history is critical, get all you can, never buy without"

For you to suggest anything otherwise, is doing buyers a grave disservice.

You are UTTERLY, AND FLAT OUT W R O N G !!!

You want to buy a car your way, fine, and the best of LUCK to you - because you will really need it.

But don't try and peddle it here, it's *really* bad advice!

They are all money pits! If you don't want problems buy a new Camry!:D

If your comfortable basing your purchasing decisions on he said she said type of information by all means do so. I prefer to base my decisions on facts. While service records do tell part of a story they don't tell the whole story and filling in what you "think" might be the truth is not really useful. Human behavior is completely unpredictable. That smartly dressed perfect Mercedes owning guy that you want to buy a car from could also be an axe murderer. :)

As for your claims that I am utterly and flat out wrong I invite you to prove your statement. Then again since your seem to be happy with questionable information Im sure that you will tell me a story about how your cousin bought a car and did not check the service history and spent a ton of money on its repairs. I used to sell cars and quite honestly 99% of the old wives tales that you guys spew on these message boards are based on "stories".

Trying to "guess" about how someone might have treated a car is a waste of time. As for calling someone do you think they would allow their sense of pride about themselves be damaged by telling you how they neglected their car? People often don't tell the truth.

If you get your ego boost by pouring over the service records of a car and making guesses as to factual information and interrogating previous owners by all means keep it up. Perhaps you might do a little more of that rather than going out of your way to be rude to people who share information contrary to your point of view.

cdplayer
 

VMI shows a variety of damage codes. Only twice in the first 5 years of ownership did the codes duplicate. Once for a faulty interface regarding the integrated phone and for jump starting. All other damage codes were different.
The first owner (lease) was a couple of hundred miles late with the FSS
requirement on two occassions.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. You obviously have a thick wallet to be able to pay for a 2001 S-Class, then another $10K in repairs! :)

Its a pity too.... the 2000-01 S500's are such nice cars too.

cdplayer
 

Well, my wallet is not as thick as I would like.
And the car is very easy on the eyes. I am quite content for now that many of the electrical issues this model is known for have been repaired.
I just wanted to share my findings with those on this board that have helped me with their posts.:kid:

do u have some pictures of the car?

cdplayer
 

Click on the photo next to my user name "cdplayer" Then arrow down and click on "visit photo gallery" Only three photos for now.:kid:

Yeah its a really nice car! An agent I know has almost the exact same S500, nice color combo! I think hers may be a 2000 though.

She has had hers for a few years now and it seems to be pretty trouble free, she likes it. So I think your out of the woods, knock on wood!:D

It sounds to me like the dealer had more then enough chances to fix the problems that are "well known". It would seem that the shop that finally fixed everything should get an "'at-a-boy" for sticking with it until it was fixed. I know from my personal experiance, that just because you pay someone a lot of money, it still doesn't mean you will get a good job.
J.S.